Govt. accuses Congress of ‘running away from debates’

New Delhi, July 21 (ANI): Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday alleged that the Congress is running away from debates as they know that their allegations would fall flat.

“Jaitley conveyed quite clearly in the House to not go into a debate on whether to have a debate or not. He said Sushma Swaraj will give a statement to which they can debate on. We said we will give answers to the questions you ask. So, when we took a clearstand on this issue and kept our views clear even outside the House, after lunch, their demands suddenly changed. Now, they are asking first for resignation of the ministers before any kind of debate,” Prasad told ANI here.

“I know the Congress Party has a shifting stand. Therefore, the people have shifted away from them. But how can they shift their stand in a couple of hours? The Congress leaders themselves do not know what is the stand of their party. It is very unsure of its stand to be taken in the Parliament. And we would like to give a clear statement that the Congress Party is running away from debates. Because they know that when the debate begins, their allegations would fall flat,” he added.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the fourth time today as the Congress continued to insist on the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for her alleged involvement in helping former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

The leaders belonging to Congress, Samajwadi Party and CPI (M) had earlier moved motions seeking discussion on the issue.

However, when the government offered a discussion, the opposition backtracked and said that discussion will follow only after the resignations by ministers. (ANI)